Part 3, The Appointed Time: Chapters 1-8 Summary

In chapter one, a young couple hoping to have sex in Central Park instead stumble upon a dead body.

In chapter two, the medical examiner is about to begin the autopsy of a young murder victim when Pendergast and O'Shaughnessy arrive. Pendergast talks the doctor into allowing him to watch. Pendergast instructs the doctor to examine the young woman's back first. There he discovers that the young woman has undergone some sort of surgical procedure in which the cauda equina, a bundle of nerves at the bottom of the spine, have been removed.

In chapter three, Smithback goes to the office of The Moegen-Fairhaven Group in hope of talking his way into an interview with Anthony Fairhaven. To Smithback's surprise, Fairhaven invites him to his office himself. Smithback and Fairhaven talk, with Fairhaven...